While there is a lot of software on the market to perform specific tasks, there are 10 free Windows applications that you should install on your PC. Some of the applications can easily replace more expensive, commercial products, and perform the same tasks. Others are a better alternative to an already free product, meaning that the application has more options.
With the increase in amount of free applications (think open-source) that are available online, you should be able to find a free alternative to a product that you are thinking about purchasing.
10 Free Windows Applications
- Comodo (software firewall). Most people would choose ZoneAlarm as the free alternative for a software firewall, but I prefer Comodo. I like the amount of options Comodo includes that allows me to configure how I want to secure my PC within the network. Comodo, however, is more complex with all the options, but the advanced user should be able to understand what to change within Comodo’s settings.
- Microsoft Security Essentials (anti-virus product). Anti-virus is always a popular choice as one of the free Windows applications that are usually installed. I used to use AVG, and then Avira, but have since switched to Microsoft Security Essentials. From various anti-virus tests, I have seen Microsoft Security Essentials perform well, even against the commercial products. I like the fact that the updates for Microsoft Security Essentials is included with Windows Update so both my operating system and anti-virus product can be updated at the same time.
- Picasa (photo management). Picasa is one of the most popular photo management applications available, and the fact that it is free is even better. I currently use a commercial product for my photo management, but if I were to choose a free application it would definitely be Picasa.
- GIMP (photo editor). While Picasa does include the ability to perform photo editing, I always liked a more dedicated application since you will get more editing options. Outside Photoshop, I like using GIMP. It is a very powerful photo and image editing application with enough features to perform any type of edit you would want to perform on a photo. The fact that it is free makes it a favourite of mine.
- Sumatra PDF (PDF reader). You may be wondering why I list a PDF reader here since Adobe Reader can also be one of the free Windows applications? Similar to other Adobe products, Adobe Reader is known for security holes. To avoid such issues I recommend you switch to another PDF reader, and a good one is Sumatra PDF. Web browsers are starting to support the viewing of PDF files, so you may not even need a separate PDF reader installed.
- PrimoPDF (PDF writer). While most office suites now support saving a document as a PDF, I still prefer a separate application to create PDF files. I prefer PrimoPDF to fill this job mainly because I can create a PDF document from almost any application that can print. Once installed, it creates a “printer” that you can send documents to have them converted to a PDF file.
- LibreOffice (office suite). For years OpenOffice was the best choice for a free office suite product. LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice and was created out of fear Oracle will discontinue commercial development of OpenOffice. LibreOffice is constantly being updated and has started to become the best of the free office suites available.
- VLC Media Player (media player). VLC is considered one of the best, if not the best, free media players available. IT has a huge support for many different media formats and is small and easy to use. I heard about this player a few years ago and it has become a mainstay in the list of installed applications on my computer.
- 7-Zip (archive creator). Winzip was, and probably continues to be, a popular choice for creating Zip archives. WinZip is free, however, but another archive creating application called 7-zip is free. The 7-zip interface is quite minimal compared to WinZip, but it has the ability to create different compressed file formats, as well as open various other compressed file formats. This is my default application for opening compressed files.
- Notepad++ (text editor). There are numerous free text editors available online. Operating systems also include their own text editor. While it is easy for me to simply use Windows’ Notepad application I prefer Notepad++. This application can open any text document and provide specific colour formatting for known file types so it becomes easy to read the document. There are many additional, and more advanced, text editing features of this application, and is a great application to install if you deal with a lot of text editors.
What Free Windows Applications Do You Use?
The above list contains many applications that can easily replace some of the expensive commercial products. There are even other free applications available online that can even replace any of the ones listed above. Which free Windows applications do you have installed and use on your computer?